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Famous
Richard Simmons has been diagnosed with skin cancer. The reclusive fitness guru revealed the news in a lengthy statement on Tuesday, two days after posting a worrying message about the death.
“Mirror, mirror on the wall, what is that spot that is so small?” Simmons, 75, began. in a long Facebook status. “There was a strange looking lump under my right eye. I had a tube of Neosporin that I put in in the morning and at night. . . it was still there. It was time to call my dermatologist.”
“I sat in his chair and he looked at it through a magnifying mirror. “He told me that he would have to scrape it off and put it under the microscope,” she continued. “Now I’m getting a little nervous. He comes back about 20 minutes later and says the C word.”
Simmons attempted to lighten the mood by telling fans that he told his doctor to “stop calling me names” when he was told that had basal cell carcinoma.
“You need to see an oncologist immediately,” Simmons wrote. “But now that you’re here, I suggest you put some Botox on your forehead lines and smile lines and lift those cheeks of yours… I patted her hand and said, ‘ Not today, doctor.’ ”
Simmons added that as soon as he got home, he contacted the Santa Monica, California-based company. Dr. Ralph A. Massey aI scheduled an appointment.
Upon arriving at Massey’s office, Simmons “greeted all these people who also had skin cancer” and revealed that he was “surprised to see all the skin cancers they had.”
He added: “Some had cancer on the top of their heads… in their faces… and in their necks.”
After getting his call back, Simmons joked that the doctor “smelled like a deli,” but he didn’t care. “I just needed his help.”
Massey burned Simmons’ skin to kill cancer cells and was not given a numbing agent.
“As my skin started to burn, a tear fell down my cheek,” Simmons recalled. “You can’t cry during this and she wiped my tears away. The burning really hurt my skin.”
Simmons was subsequently forced to undergo a second round of the procedure, which was apparently “deeper” and “worse than before.”
The Post has contacted Simmons for comment.
Several fans sent him well wishes.
“I hope you understood everything,” one fan wrote. “As I always say Richard…. “I loved you then, I love you now and I will love you forever.”
“Thank God you went to the dermatologist,” a second person commented. “I can’t wait to read the rest of this! Love and prayers on the way!”
“Hoping that in the next chapter everything is removed and you are okay,” a third person wrote. “My thoughts are with you. I always thought you were a very special person in this world and I’m glad to find you sharing things on Facebook.”
Simmons’ revelation came days after he posted an alarming message on Facebook about “dying.”
“I have some news to tell you. Please, do not be sad. Am …. dying,” the strange message began. “Oh, now I can see your faces. The truth is that we are all dying. Every day we live we get closer to death.”
Simmons continued to give various dietary advice and exercise ideas, concluding with Tim McGraw’s 2004 hit “Live like you’re dying.”
Tom Estey, Simmons’ publicist, told The Post: “I can confirm with 100 percent certainty that Richard is not dying. In fact, he is very healthy and happy. The sole purpose of the post was to be inspiring.”
The “Sweatin’ to the Oldies” star later posted an apology message on the social networking site.
“I’m sorry, many of you have been upset by my message today,” he said. wrote. “Even the press has contacted me. “I’m not dying.”
“It was a message about how we should take advantage of every day we have,” he concluded. “I’m sorry for this confusion.”